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THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY A  ND PRACTICE, V.79, # 1, 2022, pp. 34-49

                       THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC INTEGRATION ON SMALL
                         AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES COMPETITIVENESS IN
                                               ETHIOPIA, TIGRAY


                                             Abrehet Mehari Gebreselassie
                                 Ethiopia Civil Service University, Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.

                        Azerbaijan State University of Economics, email: abrehet2005@gmail.com

                     Received: November 26, 2021; accepted May 27, 2022; published online June 24, 2022

                    ABSTRACT

                    Ethiopia  adopted  substantial  structural  transformation  policies  and  strategies  and
                    international  goals  and  recorded  a  high  share  of  value-added,  GDP  growth,  and
                    employment. This paper assesses the impact of economic integration on small and
                    medium  enterprises’  competitiveness  in  Ethiopia,  Tigray.  Focusing  on  strategies,
                    enabling environment, competitiveness, and challenges of the economic integration
                    of  small  and  medium  enterprises.  The  study  employed  a  cross-sectional  mixed
                    approach  method.  The  data  were  collected  from  a  sample  of  148  SMEs  selected
                    based on proportional stratified sampling after a pilot test was conducted. Interviews
                    with  15  leaders  and  8  focus  group  discussions  with  the  SMEs  council  were
                    conducted. The result shows, the lack of access to finance, work promise, market
                    linkage, quality and quantity input, dependency mentality, and rent-seeking behavior
                    of SME operators are challenges for SMEs’ productivity, and competitiveness.  in
                    addition, the commitment, and capacity of the leaders to support SMEs integration
                    into the glob market is weak. Thus, policies and strategies should review and adjust
                    considering  the  current  capacity  of  actors  and  agency  leaders  are  very  critical.
                    Finally, establishing special financial institutions and market-supporting units might
                    help SMEs’ competitiveness. Work premises for production and market as well as
                    infrastructure should be ready before the SMEs are established.

                    Keywords: Integration, competitiveness, small and medium enterprises, strategy

                    Jel classification: B4,C3,C4,O2, O12









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